Changes
by elenorecanard
Summary: In which Tonks has trouble morphing after a very busy week.


Author: elenorecanard

Title: Changes

Rating: PG

Word Count: 1,709

Prompts: Pink

Summary: In which Tonks has trouble with her morphing after a very busy week.

Warnings/Category: None. Romance? Sorta. Fluff mostly.

Author's Notes: Written for Metamorficmoon Last Chance Showdown. Look at me, dabbling with future fic. As is prescribed with this sort, I had to take some liberties, but I think it's all pretty believable. As always thanks to Merlitongirl and lonelyflutterby for the super Beta. As per usual, I stake no claim to the characters in this little bit of fluff.

…:::…:::…:::…

When Tonks left their flat for work that morning, her hair had been almost violently green. When she returned home, some ten hours later, it was the natural, mousy brown that she hated, for the third night in a row, and she knew Remus would worry. She took a deep breath and braced herself for his undue concern.

"Remus! I'm home!" she called, kicking off her shoes.

Remus poked his head around the kitchen door. "Supper'll be ready in fifteen minutes." His eyes flicked to her hair, and back to her eyes. "Your hair's brown," he said, almost off handedly.

"Mmm," she responded.

"Are you alright?" Remus stepped fully into the sitting room now.

"I'm fine, Remus. Just tired, I reckon."

Brow furrowed, Remus reached to brush the offending locks back from her face. "Another busy day, then?"

"One paranoid witch on Diagon Alley and two mischevious twins who shall remain nameless, suspicious activity at Borgin and Burkes, Madam Malkin received a note with a rather crap imitation of a Dark Mark on it, and there was another Sirius sighting, and I did all that with two junior Auror's shadowing me, one of which is younger than I was when I started. And I left an afternoon's worth of paper work on Dark Wizards who've been in Azkaban for three years sitting on my desk," Tonks sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "Why am I still doing paper work on a war that's over? And why in bloody hell, won't those crazies believe me when I tell them Sirius is dead?" She winced at her own words.

Remus dropped a kiss on her hair. "Muggles still see dead famous singers running around, too. Why don't you go relax for a bit? I'll call you when supper's ready?" he smiled apology, concern still clear in his eyes.

Tonks nodded, and Remus turned back to the kitchen. "Remus, I really am alright."

"I know, love."

…:::…:::…:::…

Remus' concerned eyes followed her the rest of the night, despite Tonks' insistence that she was just tired. She finally had enough when she uncurled herself from her spot next to him on the settee to change into pajamas and caught him watching her over the top of the book he had supposedly been reading. She stopped in front of him, and gently pulled the book out of his hand.

"Come to bed, Remus," she said, pulling him up by the hand.

His brow furrowed in concern again.

"And please, please, please, stop looking at me like that. This," she gestured to her hair, "is nothing to worry about. Happened all the time while I was training. Good night's sleep, and I'll be right as rain."

He smiled. "Well, let's go then. I'll tuck you in," he said, following her to their bedroom.

…

When Tonks stilled her alarm the next morning, she was already feeling much better. She stretched hard and brushed a kiss to Remus' forehead and slipped out of bed, while he mumbled something about having a good day at work. She stumbled into the loo and tripped over the rug, catching her reflection in the mirror on the way down, and let out a small shriek of surprise. She scrambled to her feet and stared at the green hair and pig snout she seemed to have sprouted over night.

"Nymph, are you alright?" Remus called from their bedroom.

Tonks chose not to answer him, in favor of concentrating on regaining a more normal look.

"Not your best look, dear," the mirror put in, sounding oddly like her mother.

"Sod off," Tonks spat back, scrunching up her face, and concentrating on her real nose, and brown hair. She opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief at the bland features she normally would have lamented. She screwed up her face again, picturing the precise shade of pink she would wear for her hair for the day, and she relaxed to find pink hair where it was supposed to be.

"Everything alright, love?" Remus asked again, up and peeking around the door frame this time.

Tonks nodded. "I'm fine. Just morphed in my sleep last night. Must have been an odd dream."

Remus frowned. "Your dreams can cause morphs?" he asked, watching her closely while she undressed for her shower.

She nodded. "It doesn't happen very often, any more. Used to do it all the time at school." She started the water running, and looked back over her shoulder. "You gonna join me?"

Remus smirked and discarded his pajama bottoms and Tonks grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the shower with her.

…:::…:::…:::…

Tonks woke the next morning to Remus clattering around the kitchen. She slipped up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Morning."

"Good morning," he answered, turning around to give her a proper cuddle.

"What're you doing up so early?"

"I'm going to see Bill and Fleur today. She owled yesterday. She wants me to tutor Jean before he goes to Hogwarts."

Tonks pulled back to look at him. "Jean is only four. Isn't that a little young?"

"Frankly? Yes. But I promised Fleur I'd come and see them. She insists he's far smarter than other children his age, as most mothers do." Remus smiled. "It won't hurt to go and play with him a bit. And then I will tell Fleur that Jean is, indeed, very smart, but that maybe it's best to let him play and imagine for a little longer before he starts growing up." He dropped a kiss on her hair, still brown from another exhausting day at work the previous day. "After all, children grow so quickly. Of course, when he's older, I'd be thrilled to teach him the very basics before he goes to school."

Tonks grinned up at her husband. "You're just too chicken to tell Fleur that no matter how smart, four is too young to start tutoring, aren't you?"

Remus smiled widely. "Of course. I haven't met a Weasley woman yet that I'd openly disagree with."

"I always knew you were smart," Tonks teased. "I'm going to get ready for work," she told him, heading toward the loo.

Tonks showered, and dressed and stood in front of the mirror, unable to decide on a hair color. She settled on her standard fuchsia and scrunched up her face but she opened her eyes to electric blue. She closed her eyes and tried again. When she opened them, her hair was orange.

"Remus!" She half shouted, screwing up her face again, trying not to panic, only to come up with violent green, instead of pink. When she opened her eyes, Remus was standing behind her.

"Nymphadora, what's the matter?"

"Remus, I can't go pink," her voice shook, and she didn't even rebuke his use of her name.

Remus' brow furrowed. "What do you mean, you can't go pink?"

"I can't make my hair pink. I tried. I got blue and orange, and green. This hasn't happened since I was a kid, and didn't know how to control it all and I'm not really sure what's going on." She blurted.

Remus scuffed her cheek with his thumb. "Right. Don't panic. You're probably still worn out. I'm sure it's fine. After all, you've had much worse problems morphing before, and we've gotten through them." He tried to keep his face calm, but Tonks could see the worry in his eyes, and hear it in the slight shake of his voice. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Try again, love."

Tonks took a deep breath, and scrunched up her face, picturing her usual vibrant pink, Remus's pink. When she opened her eyes, Remus was frowning, and when she turned back to the mirror, her hair was midnight black, and hung down to her waist.

"I think, perhaps, you should see a Healer, Nymph."

Tonks nodded, looking much more concerned than she had the few nights before. "Do you think it's serious?"

Remus' frown deepened. "I doubt it, but it's better safe than sorry, right?"

Tonks nodded. "Right." She took a deep breath. "Right, I'm going to owl in sick, and floo the Healer's office."  
"I'll floo Fleur, and tell her I'll come tomorrow."

"No. You go see Fleur and Jean. I'll be fine. The mediwitch would just make you sit in the waiting room anyway, and the Healer is just going to tell me to take a few days off. It'll be fine," she said, reassuring herself as much as him.

"Are you sure? I can go with you," he said.

"I'm sure," she said. "You wouldn't want to disappoint a Weasley woman, now would you?" She tried to smile.

Remus smiled weakly back. "Alright. I'll see you when you get back then," he said, and left her to send the owl to Kingsley in the Auror's office.

…:::…:::…:::…:::…

Tonks managed an early appointment with her Healer, and for the first time in all the years she'd been seeing any Healer, which was often, given her natural lack of grace, she was seen almost immediately.

She sat through several tests, and answered the Healer's questions patiently. Yes, she was normally fully in control of her morphing. Yes, she was sure the most recent problem she'd had was a few years ago, while her husband was away. No, those weren't the same sort of problem. Then the Healer sent her home, promising to owl her with the test results later that afternoon.

So Tonks went home, and waited none-too-patiently for the owl to come, and when Remus came home, he waited equally anxiously with her. They both jumped when an owl tapped on the kitchen window.

Tonks opened the window, and let the bird in, taking the parchment roll addressed to her and giving the owl a treat before sending it on it's way. She tossed still-black hair over her shoulder as she scanned the letter quickly. Remus watched anxiously as a smile spread slowly across her face.

"Everything's alright then?" He ventured.

"Well, I will be taking some time off, but not for a while yet. The Healer says this kind of thing is perfectly normal for a woman expecting multicolored werepups."

Remus frowned in puzzlement. "Multicolored what? Nymphadora, are you telling me…."

Tonks wrapped her arms around Remus. "Don't call me Nymphadora, Dad."


End file.
